When Parents Struggle: Parental Depression, Adult Family Dynamics, and Depressive Symptoms in Mid‐ and Later Life

ABSTRACT Objective This study examined the associations between childhood exposure to parental depression (ages 0–17) and individuals' depressive symptoms in mid‐ and later life (ages 50–80). Additionally, it investigated the mediating role of adult family trajectories (ages 18–49) and the conditioning role of respondent gender. Background Life course pathways connecting early adversity to later‐life mental health remain underexplored in non‐Western contexts. Elucidating these patterns informs understanding of intergenerational health disparities within families. Method Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study ( N = 13,015), sequence and cluster analyses identified family trajectories, while regression and decomposition models examined associative pathways. Results First, childhood parental depression was associated with elevated later‐life depressive symptoms; maternal‐only and paternal‐only depression showed comparable associations, whereas dual‐parental depression was associated with greater symptom burden than either parent‐specific exposure alone. Second, family trajectories represented a modest associative pathway: childhood parental depression was associated with a higher likelihood of high‐fertility trajectories, which were associated with higher symptoms, and a lower likelihood of moderate‐ or low‐fertility trajectories, which were associated with lower symptoms. Third, the lower symptoms associated with low‐fertility relative to high‐fertility trajectories were more pronounced among women than among men. Conclusion Childhood parental depression marks enduring mental health disparities into later life. Adult family trajectories provide a limited but detectable associative link, highlighting the need to examine additional life course processes.